Shooting puzzling to victims

Tuesday

Mar 5, 2013 at 12:01 AMMar 5, 2013 at 9:10 AM

STOCKTON — Caroline Toe became visibly emotional Monday afternoon and couldn't bear to be standing in the spot in her laundry room where, just one week ago today, a man she rented a room to in her home allegedly pulled out a shotgun and started firing for no apparent reason, striking her and her husband.

Joe Goldeen

STOCKTON — Caroline Toe became visibly emotional Monday afternoon and couldn't bear to be standing in the spot in her laundry room where, just one week ago today, a man she rented a room to in her home allegedly pulled out a shotgun and started firing for no apparent reason, striking her and her husband.

Toe, 32, the mother of three young children, came home from the hospital for the first time Monday after suffering two serious wounds to the left side of her abdomen and her left hip. Her husband, Marley Bah, 39, was treated and released that same day but still carries three shotgun pellets in his torso that doctors say would do too much damage to remove.

That double shooting brought out the Stockton police SWAT team to search for the shooter and closed down a portion of West Bianchi Road for three hours last Tuesday morning.

Dwight Smith, 25, identified by police as the fugitive they were seeking, turned himself in Sunday to the Alameda County Sheriff's Office and was transferred to the San Joaquin County Jail on Monday.

Stockton police reported Smith was concerned after seeing his photo on news reports multiple times. He has been booked on suspicion of two counts of attempted homicide and making criminal threats.

Police also reported Monday the shotgun he allegedly used was found later on the day of the shooting.

Toe, a native of Liberia, and Bah, a Comcast technician originally from Gambia, said they were not acquainted with Smith and had no idea he had a shotgun in their home. His room was a converted garage separated from the rest of the house by the laundry room that has access to the outside. He lived in the room with his wife, Carrie Smith, and a 6-year-old boy.

The Smith family was being charged $450 a month rent, according to Toe, but had only paid a $50 security deposit and indicated they would be moving to Oakland by March 1.

Toe gave this account:

The morning of the shooting, Toe said, she had just returned home from dropping her children off at school when she witnessed Smith and his wife breaking through the wood fence at the back of the property from the opposite side. She asked them what they were doing but didn't get a response. The next thing she remembers, she was in her laundry room when Smith came out of his room and, for reasons she can't explain, just started firing.

“I thought I was going to die. I don't want to die,” Toe said, holding back tears while recalling her feelings. She said she pleaded with him: “I don't have no money. ... Who's going to pay?”

As Smith opened fire on Toe, Bah was standing in the kitchen on the other side of the laundry room wall. He was apparently hit with one of the same shotgun blasts that struck Toe.

Smith then entered the kitchen in what the family believes was an attempt to kill Bah, chasing him out the front door toward Bianchi Road while firing another shotgun blast. Meanwhile, Toe went outside through the laundry room door and collapsed on a neighbor's lawn as a passing motorist stopped to render aid and call 911.

While the couple can't explain Smith's actions, they were extremely thankful that no children were in the home during the shooting incident.

“God is good,” Toe said, indicating that her family intends to move out of the home as soon as they can.